Trained as an ecologist and molecular biologist, I study the cultural and environmental implications of biotechnology.
Together, let’s reimagine biology as cultural, creative, and liberatory.
Currently, I am a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology at Stanford University and incoming faculty member at the University of British Columbia. I am also a professional artist, community biodesign educator, and community organizer. Formerly, I was a Biosecurity and Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, where I developed a national roadmap for creating free, publicly accessible biology labs in local communities: LABraries.
My work spans biological research, policy research, art, and activism. Read on!
Research
My research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary implications of bioengineered organisms. As a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology at Stanford University, I use community engaged research to study the agroecological implications of bioengineered microbes on California ecosystems.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4611-0021
Art & Design
I reimagine biology through art. From reframing bioengineering through the lens of Mexican agricultural practices with migrant youth using art, to sharing the plant stories of my grandparents on the shores of Lake Michigan with ecology researchers, I use art to push what we imagine bioengineering to be.
I am a professional scientific illustrator, graphic designer, and biomaterials artist.
Dyed kombucha SCOBY grown in petri dishes.
Cyanotype tapestry with bird feathers, exhibited as part of a 2023 artist residency with Michigan State University.
Policy
What should the next 100 years of American biotechnology innovation look like? As a Biosecurity and Innovation Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and Department of Bioengineering, I led a policy research programme, Biology for Everyone (BIO4E) envisioning how to center biology innovation in community. Through interdisciplinary collaborations with policy experts, biologists, community activists, and youth, we developed a national roadmap for the creation of free, publicly accessible biology labs, LABraries, and the creation of a new profession: the LABrarian.
I was a 2021 Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
I was a 2023-2024 Biosecurity and Innovation Fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and Department of Bioengineering.